Continuous gluing press



Filed Nov. 1', 1947 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 ms ms m Dec. 9, 1952 QUICK CONTINUOUS GLUING PRESS Filed Nov.

8 Sheets-Sheet 2 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 L. QUIK CONTINUOUS GLUING PRESS Dec. 9, 1952 Filed Nov. 1, 1947 t w 2 hi hsdhn l nl mm M Dec. 9, 1952 QulcK CONTINUOUS GLUING PRESS 4 t e e h s S t e m S 8 Filed Nov. 1, 1947 L. QUICK CONTINUOUS Gl-UING PRESS Dec. 9, 1952 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 1, 1947 w z uillk% NR0 QM mum m I f a R Dec. 9, 1952 L. QUICK CONTINUOUS GLUING PRESS 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Nov. 1, 1947 {202% BY M Dec. 9, 1952 L. QUICK (CONTINUOUS GLUING PRESS 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed Nov. 1, 1.947

one mlolom I 31110 IG-IZC I10 10 l'nzl'ollm 1.01110 I10 lzom' Patented Dec. 9, 1952 CONTINUOUS GLUING PRESS Lloyd Quick, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., assignor to James L. Taylor Manufacturing Company, a corporation of New York Application November 1, 1947, Serial No. 783,492

Claims. (Cl. 144279) This invention relates to gluing machines of the type described and claimed in United States Patent No. 2,408,054, dated September 24, 1946, wherein edge-glued pieces of Wood or boards are tal axis on the frame and a plurality of upper rollers mounted on a common horizontal shaft, and novel and improved means for moving the upper rollers relatively to the lower rollers and continuously fed into the machine, pressed to- 5 to ensure substantially uniform pressure by the gether edgewise under substantially uniform presrollers on the pieces of wood throughout the width sure and conveyed while subject to such pressure of the forcing and retarding means.

through a heating or glue-setting chamber and Other objects are to provide novel and improved the pressure is relieved from said pieces as they means for driving the rollers of both the forcing emerge from the chamber without reducing the i0 and retarding means so that the retarding rollers pressure on the pieces within the chamber. shall be drive-n at a slower peripheral speed than The heating chambers of machines of this the forcing rollers, whereby to maintain pressure character include two heating plates or radiators, at the joints between the pieces of wood located one fixed on the bed of the machine and the other between the forcing rollers and the retarding rollvertically movable toward and from the fixed ers, and to obtain other advantages and results one to receive between them the pieces to be glued. that will be brought out by the following descrip- It is necessary that the upper heating plate or tion in conjunction with the accompanying drawradiator be vertically movable to accommodate ings, in which boards or pieces of wood of different thicknesses Figure l is a top plan View of the forward or and also to maintain pressure on the boards to feed end of the machine; prevent buckling thereof as they are moved Figure 2 is a similar view of the rear or disthrough the heating chamber between the two charge end of the machine; heating plates or radiators. Figure 3 is a side elevational View of the for- Such machines also include means, such as Ward end of the machine that is illustrated in rollers, outside of and adjacent the feed or inlet Figure 1; end of the heating chamber for forcing the pieces Figure 4 is a similar view of the rear end of the of wood into edgewise abutting contact as they machine that is illustrated in Figure enter said chamber, and similar means are pro- Figure 5 is a fragmentary l ud nal vertivided outside of and adjacent the outlet or disal sectional v w approximately n h p ne of charge end of the heating chamber for retarding the line 5- of Figure 1; or resisting emergence of said pieces from said Figure '15 1% Similar View, approXimately 0 the chamber and thereby maintaining a substanplane of 17119 line of Figure tially uniform pressure at the joints between the Figure 7 iS a transverse Vertical Se o Vi w, pieces within the chamber. approximately on the plane of the line 7-! of One object of my invention is to provide novel Figure and improved means for simultaneously moving Figure 8 is a ar evational View of the mathe upper heating plate and said forcing and rechine; tarding means to apply and remove pressure to Figures 9 and 10 are transverse vertical secand from the pieces of Wood in the heating chamtional views, approximately on the planes of the b n lines 99 and Iii-48, respectively, of Figure 3;

Another object of the invention is to provide Figure 11 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary each of the forcing means and the retarding transverse vertical sectional View, approximately means with at least one lower roller journaled on on the plane of the line I l-I I of Figure 3, and the bed of the machine and at least another up- Figure 12 is a fragmentary side elevational View per roller, and novel and improved means for of the parts shown in Figure 11, and mounting the upper roller for movement toward Figure 13 is a schematic view illustrating the and from the lower roller. fluid pressure system and controlling valve.

A further object is to provide novel and im- Specifically describing the invention, the refproved means to simultaneously move said upper erence character A designates the bed frame of rollers of the feeding and retarding means simulthe machine which is shown as comprising horitaneously with the movement of the upper heat- Zontal side pieces I that are supported on legs m plate 2 and are connected to end pieces 3.

Still another bje t is t provide such forcing Intermediate the ends of the bed frame is and retarding means each of which shall include mounted a lower heating plate or radiator B with at least one lower roller journaled on a horizonwhich cooperates an upper simila heatin plate or radiator C to form a space or heating chamber D between them, said upper heating plate being vertically movably mounted on the frame of the machine by means that will be hereinafter described. These radiators may be of any suitable construction, but preferably are made as shown and described in the copending application of Raymond W. Burns and myself, filed on even date herewith, Serial No. 783,556 and now issued as Patent No. 2,580,728, dated Jan. 1, 1952. The bed plate comprises side and end pieces 4 and 5 and intermediate cross pieces 5, preferably formed of metal channels, all of said pieces being connected together into a rigid frame. Secured to the top flanges of the side pieces, end pieces and cross pieces are a plurality of steam pipes I that are nested between metal T-bars 8 that extend lengthwise of the radiator, as best shown in Figures 11 and 12. Preferably, the pipes and T-bars are welded to each other and to the frame pieces 4, 5 and E, and the heads or cross portions of the T-bars are disposed in the same horizontal plane to form a smooth heating surface. The pipes "I are connected at their ends to manifolds 9 which are in turn connected to any suitable source of steam supply.

The upper radiator is similarly formed, having side, end and cross pieces I0, H and i2, respectively, but the steam pipes 13 and T-bars [4 are arranged on the bottom flanges of the radiator in opposed relation to the pipes I and T-bars 8 of the lower radiator. It is desirable that the upper radiator be adjustable so as to ensure that its heating surface shall be absolutely flat or planar and devoid of warping. As shown and described in the above-mentioned copending application, the side and end pieces of the frame or radiator are slit for portions of their widths from the top flanges to points closely adjacent the lower flanges, as indicated at 15, and an adjusting screw it extends transversely of the open end of each slit and has its ends threaded in blocks i"! secured to the upper flanges of the respective side pieces, end pieces and cross pieces. With this construction, it will be observed that by proper manipulation of the adjusting screws N5, the frame pieces may be flexed as required to make the heating surface of the radiator truly fiat. Steam is supplied to the pipes 13 of the upper radiator through manifolds I 8.

Adjacent one end of the heating chamber D is a feeding mechanism E that is shown as comprising a plurality of endless chains spaced horizontally of the machine and with their upper reaches in a common plane. As shown, the chains are mounted on sprockets 2| which are in turn carried by shafts 22 that are journaled in bearings 23 on a supplemental frame F secured on the side pieces I of the bed frame adjacent one end thereof. One of the shafts 22 is driven by chain and sprocket drive 24 from a countershaft 25 which is in turn driven by a chain and sprocket connection 25 with a power shaft 21 to which power is supplied from a suitable source by a belt and pulley or other suitable power-transmitting connection 28. As shown, both of the shafts 25 and 21 are journaled in the side pieces of the bed frame.

The pieces of wood, boards or other objects 29 to be glued may be deposited on the feed chains 20 in any suitable manner, but preferably they are manually removed from the conveyor 30 of a glue-applying machine which is disposed above the feed chains 29, as shown and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 739,235, filed 4 April 3, 1947, now issued as Patent No. 2,588,874, dated March 11, 1952.

Between the feed chains 20 and the feed or inlet end of the heating chamber D is a forcing means G which is shown as comprising at least one, but preferably a plurality of rollers 3|. As shown, there are siX rollers spaced longitudinally of a shaft 32 which is journaled in bearings 33 on one of the end pieces 3 of the bed frame. Cooperating with the rollers 31 are a plurality of upper rollers 34, one for each lowe roller, mounted on a shaft 35 that is journaled in brackets 36 which are pivotally mounted to swing in vertical planes on a horizontal shaft 31 that is supported by a plurality of bearing brackets 38 which are mounted on the cross piece 39 of a super-frame. The axes of the shafts of the upper and lower rollers are normally disposed approximately in a common vertical plane, but the upper rollers may be swung upwardly and downwardly toward and from the lower rollers by virtue of the brackets 38.

Each of these brackets has connected thereto an actuating arm 40 which is also connected to a cross beam 4| common to all of the arms 40. Each end of the cross beam 4! is pivotaliy connected at 42 to the rod 43 of a piston which is reciprocably mounted in a cylinder 44 to which at opposite sides of the piston compressed air may be supplied from an suitable source and under control of any suitable valve through pipes 45. As shown, one of these pneumatic devices is mounted at each side of the bed frame A and pivotally connected thereto, as indicated at 45. With this construction, it will be observed that when fluid under pressure is supplied to the cylinders 44 at the lower ends of the pistons therein, the arms 49 will be swung upwardly about the axis of the shaft 3! to move the upper forcing rollers 34 upwardly away from the lower forcing rollers 3|, while when fluid pressure is admitted to the othe end of the cylinders 44, the arms 40 will be swung downwardly to move the rollers 34 toward the rollers 31 so that the rollers may grip between them the boards or other objects 29 being fed thereto by the feeding mechanism E.

Preferably, both the upper and lower forcing rollers are driven, although in certain cases where less force or pressure is required, either the upper or the lower rollers may be driven. As shown, the shafts 32 and 35 have the respective sprockets 41 and 48 connected thereto, and a sprocket chain 49 is arranged to drive said sprockets in opposite directions from a sprocket 5B which is carried by a stud shaft 5| which is mounted on one of the side pieces of the frame and is driven by a large sprocket wheel 52 that is operatively connected by a chain 53 to a s p-rocket 54 that is journaled on one end of the shaft 25. A tightening sprocket 55 for the chain is mounted on one arm of a bell crank lever 51, the other arm of which is connected by a tension spring 58 to the bed frame, while an idler sprocket 59 is mounted on an adjustable bracket 60 on the bed frame for maintaining the chain 52 in taut condition.

With this construction, it will be observed that when the countershaft 25 is driven, the forcing rollers 3| and 34 are rotated in the directions indicated by the arrows on Figure 5, and when the upper and lower rollers are properly spaced apart to grip the boards 29 between them, said boards will be forced by the rollers continuously into the entrance end of the heating chamber D. For bridging the space between the rollers and the upper and lower radiators, bridge strips 6| are mounted on the radiator plates.

In accordance with the invention, retarding means is provided adjacent the discharge end of the heating chambers D for retarding or providing resistance to the emergence of the objects or boards 29 from the heating chamber so that the boards or objects within the chamber are continually held in abutting contact with each other under a predetermined substantially uniform pressure while the glue is setting. This retarding means, generally designated H, may be substantially identical with the forcing means G and comprises one or more lower rollers 62 mounted on a shaft 63 that is journaled in bearings 64 on one of the end pieces 3 of the machine frame. Above the rollers 62 are upper rollers 65, one for each lower roller 62, which are mounted on a shaft 66 that is journaled in brackets 61 which are pivotally mounted to swing in vertical planes on a horizontal shaft 68 supported by hearing brackets 69 on a cross piece 19 at the top of the machine frame.

Each bracket 51 is connected to an actuating arm H which is connected to a cross beam T2 that is common to all of the arms H. Each end of the cross beam i2 is pivotally connected at 16 to the rod 11 of a piston which is reciprocably mounted in a cylinder 18 to which at opposite sides of the piston compressed air may be supplied from any suitable source and under control of any suitable valve through pipes iii. Preferably, the same valve such as the valve 89 shown in Figure 13 will be utilized for controlling the fiow of fluid under pressure to and from both the cylinders M and the cylinders '58, so that the arms H will be swung upwardly and downwardly simultaneously with the movement of the arms 40, thereby to raise and lower the upper rollers of both the forcing means and the retarding means at the same time.

Either the upper or the lower rollers of the forcing means H may be driven, but, as shown, preferably the lower rollers 62 are positively driven while the upper rollers are idlers, and the lower rollers are driven at a slightly slower peripheral speed than are the rollers of the forcing means G, whereby the rollers of the retarding means exert a substantially predetermined uniform force on the boards 29, tending to resist the force applied to the boards by the forcing means G. Conveniently, the lower retarding rollers 62 may be driven through a sprocket 73 by a chain M that runs over a sprocket 15 that is connected to the shaft 32 of the lower forcing rollers 33!, and the sprocket 75 is of a smaller diameter than the sprocket 73 so as to provide the desired speed ratio between the forcing and the retarding rollers.

It will be observed that due to the flexibility of the roller shafts of the forcing means and the retarding means, as well as the pull exerted thereon by the driving mechanism, the various rollers may exert different pressures on the boards or other objects at different points in the lengths thereof or transversely of the machine or longitudinally of the roller shafts unless some means is provided to prevent it. Accordingly, I provide adjustable connections for the arms iii and H with their respective cross beams 41 and 72. Each of these connections is identical, so that only one needs to be described. Referring particularly to Figures 5, 6, and 9, each connection includes a plate 80, that underlies the corresponding arm 40 or H in abutting contact therewith in which are mounted adjusting screws 8| whose free ends bear against the underside of the corresponding beam 4! or 12, so as to hold the corresponding arm 40 or H in spaced relation to said beam. Across the top of the beam 41 or 12 is a plate 82 which is connected to the plate by bolts 83. As shown, the arms 28 and H comprise two channel-shaped pieces 84 secured together with their base portions in parallel and spaced relation, and the bolts 83 pass between the two channel-shaped pieces. With-this construction, it will be observed that by proper adjustment of the bolts 82 and screws 8l,.each arm 40 or H can be adjusted independently of the others relatively to the corresponding beam El or 72 so as to adjust the corresponding upper roller 34 or 65 relative to the corresponding lower roller 3| or 62. In this connection, it will be remembered that there is a slight tolerance or looseness in the bearings of the roller shafts and in the connections of some of the other parts which will permit such adjustment of the arms 40 and H relative to the shafts 35, although in some cases there may be slight lateral pressure on the shafts 35 and 66 as a result of the adjustments, when there are no boards passing through the machine.

As hereinbefore stated, the invention contemplates the simultaneous raising and lowering of the upper radiator C and the upper forcing rollers and retarding rollers, and for this purpose I have shown a cross rod 85 connected to and extending between the two outermost arms ll] or 1!, as the case may be, at each side of the machine. These cross rods underlie elevatin arms 86 which are secured to and extend upwardly from the upper radiator or heating plateat each end and adjacent opposite sides thereof, so that when the actuating arms 45 or H are raised the cross rods will abut the elevating arms 86 so that the radiator will be raised upwardly with said elevating arms, and when the elevating arms 40 and H are swung downwardly, the radiator will descend by gravity.

Provision is made for relative downward movement of the actuating arms 3%, "H and the radiator and for exerting resilient or yielding pressure by the radiator upon the boards or objects passing through the heating chamber D. Thus, I have shown a bearing block 8? seated on the upper side of each elevating arm 86 and through which slidably extends a, pair of pull bolts 88 one end of each of which is connected to the corresponding cross rod %5 while the other ends are connected by a plate 89 between which and the block are compression springs 96. With this construction, after the radiator plate C has been lowered into contact with the boards in the chamber D, the arms MI and H may be pulled further downwardly by the pneumatic devices 44 and 78 so as to pull downwardly on the pull rod 83 against the compression of the springs 99 and thus cause yieldable pressure to be exerted on the boards by the radiator.

It will thus be seen that during operation of the machine, the glue-coated boards or other objects will be fed by the conveyor chains 2i) into the forcing rollers BI and 34, the latter of which will have been previously adjusted the proper distance from the former to frictionally grip the boards between them and force them into the heating chamber D that is formed between the upper and lower radiators C and B, respectively, the latter of which will have been adjusted to exert the proper yieldable pressure on the boards. The forcing rollers will force the boards through the chamber D and the retarding rollers 62 and 65 will frictionally engage the boards as they emerge from the chamber so as to hold back upon or resist movement of the boards under the influence of the forcing rollers, whereby the boards will be held continually in abutting contact with each other under a predetermined substantially uniform pressure while the glue is setting in the joint between the boards. After the boards have passed through the retarding rollers they will slide outwardly upon a receiving table or other suitable means I from which they may be removed or conveyed to a desired point. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the boards are fed to the machine in series, each series comprising boards to form a panel of given size when they are glued together, although, if desired, the boards could be glued together to form long continuous strips instead of panels.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that when starting an empty machine, the space between the forcing and retarding means must be filled with non-glued material in order to retard the first glued material fed into the machine.

While I have shown and described the invention as embodied in certain details of construction, it will be understood that this is primarily for the purpose of illustrating the principles of the invention, and that many modifications and. changes can be made in the construction of the machine within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

1. A gluing machine comprising a frame, upper and lower radiators forming a glue-setting chamber between them, and means for moving said upper radiator toward and from the lower radiator and including actuating arms pivoted on said frame adjacent opposite ends of said upper radiator, means to operatively connect said actuating arms to said upper radiator so that upon swinging of said arms in opposite directions said upper radiator will be raised and lowered respectively, means for simultaneously swinging the arms at both ends of said upper radiator, said glue-setting chamber having an entrance at one end and an outlet at the other end, forcing means adjacent the entrance of said chamber for moving objects through said chamher in continuous movement, retarding means adjacent the outlet of said chamber for yieldingly resisting said movement of said objects, each said forcing means and retarding means including a part movable relatively to another part to receive and frictionally engage said objects between, and operative connections between said movable parts and said actuating arms at the corresponding end of said chamber for moving said parts simultaneously with said upper radiator.

2. A continuous gluing machine comprising a glue-setting chamber having an entrance and an outlet, forcing means outside but adjacent the entrance of said chamber including two rollers having surfaces to receive between them and drivingly engage and move a plurality of gluecoated objects into and through said chamber in a continuous movement in one direction, means for continuously driving one of said rollers of said forcing means to move said surface thereof and said objects in said direction, retarding means outside but adjacent the outlet of said chamber including two rollers having surfaces to receive between them and frictionally engage said objects as they emerge from said chamber, and means for positively and continuously driving one of said rollers of said retarding means to move the corresponding surface in the same direction as but at a speed lower than that of the movement of said surface of the driven element of said forcing means, so that adjacent objects within said chamber are held continually in abutting contact with each other under a predetermined substantially uniform pressure, said glue setting chamber including two platens one of which is movable toward and from the other, one of said rollers of each of said forcing means and said retarding means being movable relatively to the other roller and to said movable platen, means for simultaneously moving said one roller of each of said forcing means and said retarding means toward and away from the other roller, and means connecting the last-named means to said movable platen for raising and lowering said movable platen simultaneously with the movement of said movable rollers away from and toward the other rollers, respectively.

3. A continuous gluing machine comprising a glue-setting chamber having an entrance and an outlet, forcing means outside but adjacent the entrance of said chamber including two rollers having surfaces to receive between them and drivingly engage and move a plurality of glue-coated objects into and through said chamber in a continuous movement in one direction, retarding means outside but adjacent the outlet of said chamber including two rollers having surfaces to receive between them and frictionally engage said objects as they emerge from said chamber, a sprocket on one roller of said forcing means, a larger sprocket on one roller of said retarding means, and a chain connecting said sprockets so that the latter roller is driven at a lower peripheral speed than said roller of the forcing means to move the corresponding surface in the same direction as but at a lower speed than that of the movement of said surface of said roller of the forcing means, whereby adjacent objects Jithin said chamber are held continually in abutting contact with each other under a predetermined substantially uniform pressure.

4. A gluing machine comprising a frame, upper and lower radiators forming a glue-setting chamber between them, and means for moving said upper radiator toward and from the lower radiator and including actuating arms pivoted on said frame adjacent opposite ends of said upper radiator, elevating arms projecting from said ends of said upper radiator, means on said actuating arms to abut said elevating arms at the corresponding ends of said upper radiator as said arms are swung upwardly so as to elevate said radiator, means on said actuating arms to abut and pull downwardly on the corresponding elevata ing arms to press objects between said upper and 9 movement of said objects, a plurality of rollers mounted coaxially in spaced relation on said shaft with said actuating arms supporting the corresponding shafts between said rollers, and the means for swinging said arms includes a cross beam for connecting all of said actuating arms at each end of said chamber, an adjustable connection between each actuating arm to the corresponding cross beam so that each arm can be adjusted to cause substantially uniform pressure of all of said rollers of the corresponding forcing means or retarding means upon said objects, and Power means connected to each cross beam for raising and lowering it to simultaneously move all of the arms connected, thereto to raise and lower the corresponding rollers.

LLOYD QUICK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number 15 Number 10 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Marsh July 18, 1893 Hayes Mar. 6, 1894 McLarty June 11, 1907 Sutter Mar. 1 5, 1909 Blossfield Mar. 27, 1923 Halliwell June 26, 1928 Weber Feb. 12, 1929 Irwin et a1. Mar. 13, 1945 Frame Sept. 3, 1946 Hall Sept. 24, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Jan. 3, 1899 Germany June 27, 1934 

